A newspaper is the center of a community, it's one of the tent poles of the community, and that's not going to be replaced by Web sites and blogs.

I went into journalism to learn the craft of writing and to get close to the world I wanted to write about - police and criminals, the criminal justice system.

Any writer would rather dig into character than dig into fancy plots.

Momentum was momentum, whether you found it in music or on the street or in the beat of your own heart.

Don't go growing a conscience on me," I said. "I've been down that road. It doesn't lead you to anything good.

I never miss L.A. because I'm there enough.

I've sold 11 of my books to Hollywood. There are all kinds of my books on shelves in Hollywood because the scripts didn't capture the characters.